The MPEG Standard

MPEG-1 (1992) actually a video player

plays out audio/video streams same type of access as home VCR

MPEG-2 (1995) introduced for compression and transmission of digital TV signals

still limited interactivity

MPEG-4 (1999) is completely different

high level of interactivity

MPEG-7 (2002) for the description of metadata only

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MPEG-4
MPEG-4 addresses the need towards
Mixing of natural and synthetic audiovisual information High interactivity in the presentation of multimedia content Deployment of communication systems for realtime or broadcast delivery of coded data streams

A new approach for describing, coding and presenting a scene MPEG-4 combines different coding tools for
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Audio/video Synthetic objects and graphics

MPEG-4 Objects
The audio/video components of MPEG-4
Objects are coded, transmitted separately and composed at the decoder site They can exist independently Multiple objects can be grouped together to form complex objects Video and audio can be easily manipulated Permits choosing appropriate coding tools for audio, video and graphics objects
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MPEG-4 Object Based Coding

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MPEG-4 Coding
The scene is composed and rendered at the sender site video frames, audio are coded, multiplexed and transmitted tools for coding arbitrarily shaped objects At the receiver the stream is demultiplexed video and audio are decoded, composed, synchronized and presented as defined at the senders site
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Object Coding
Objects are described mathematically (e.g. by their positions)
similarly for audio and graphics objects an object need only be defined once the viewer can change their position transmit calculations to update the scene at the receiver this is a critical feature when the response has to be fast and bit-rate is limited
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Binary Format for Scenes (BIFS)

MPEG-4s language for describing and dynamically changing a scene Borrows concepts from VRML Both define representations of the same data VRML defines objects and actions in text BIFS code is binary (10-15 times shorter) Unlike VRML, MPEG-4 uses BIFS for realtime streaming: a scene can be built-up and played on the fly VRML and BIFS evolve consistently 4/20/2012 7

scene graph

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The Scene Graph

Represents a scene as independent or compound objects e.g.,
father and child the audio track of his voice floor and walls (sprites: for backgrounds) the web site the synthetic image of the furniture a synthetic HDTV set playing a movie from the families DVD library
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Elementary Streams (ES)

The scheme for preparing content for transmission, storage and decoding Objects are placed in ESs Probably two or more ESs per object A sound track or a video may have a single ES Scalable objects way have one ES for basic quality information + one or more enhancement layers for improved quality (e.g., finer detail, faster motion) ESs are split into packets and sent along with timing information for proper synchronization
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Object Descriptors (OD)

MPEG-4s mechanism that informs the system which ES belongs to a certain object
OD contain Elementary Stream Descriptors (ESD) which tell the system which decoders to use ODs are sent in their own stream which allows them to be added or deleted as the scene changes
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Profiles and Levels

MPEG-4 provides a set of tools for coding multimedia contents
an application may use only subsets of these tools

Profiles: MPEG-4s definitions of these subsets for audio, visual, graphics information Levels: define the computational complexity of the profiles tool subset Certain combinations of profiles fit well 4/20/2012 12 together

MPEG-4 Profiles

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MPEG-4 Visual Objects

Arbitrarily shaped objects are coded apart from their background Binary shape coding: a pixel is or is not part of an object
simple, crude technique, suitable for low-bit rates, suffers from aliasing

Alpha shape (gray scale) coding: each pixel is assigned a value for its transparency
objects can be smoothly blended into a background or with other objects
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Visual Objects
Rectangular natural images and scenes are coded using MPEG-1, 2 Texture is coded separately by a DCT, block based coding scheme or wavelets E.g., weather reports: the weathermans image seems to be standing in front of a map which is actually generated elsewhere
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Object Segmentation
MPEG does not specify how objects are extracted
video object segmentation is difficult e.g., record weathermans image in front of a color background

MPEG-4 specifies decoding

implementation of encoding is left to the industry to decide
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MPEG-4 Applications
MPEG-4 makes video possible even at very low bit-rates (e.g., 10 kb/s) Scalable objects for low bit-rates
mobile devices, internet

a base layer conveys all the information in some basic quality one of more enhancement layers can be sent to get better quality send only the most important objects
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Sprites
For coding unchanged backgrounds The background is defined and coded only once Must be updated for each change (e.g., when the viewing angles changes) The sprite is sent only once New views are created by sending the new positions
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Advanced Features
Map images into computer generated shapes
a 2D or 3D mesh may have an image mapped onto it a few parameters to deform the mesh generate the impression of a moving picture rather than sending new images for each change, send commands and parameters to the viewer pre-defined faces are particularly interesting meshes the appearance of a face may be left to the decoder (e.g., custom facial models can be downloaded)
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MPEG-4 Faces
Images laid over a wire-frame face Send wire-frame plus parameters Image reconstruction at receivers site Speech is generated from text in steps with motions of the mouth, eyes and lips
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MPEG-7
MPEG-7 (2002) focuses on description of multimedia content
modalities: image, speech, video, graphics and their combinations

MPEG-7 complements existing MPEG standards and is applicable even to non-MPEG formats (compressed or uncompressed) MPEG-7 is driven by trends in technology, market and user needs Applications: VideoOnDemand, NewsOnDemand, InteractiveTV, multimedia information systems etc.
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Scope of the Standard

Provides the means for indexing, searching, filtering and managing audiovisual content
broadcast media selection (e.g., personalized TV) multimedia editing (e.g., personalized news service)
tools may be designed for specific modalities, aspects or applications

MPEG-7 interoperable interface defines syntax and semantics

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Interoperable Services and Applications

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MPEG-7 Main Tasks

Multimedia: generate customized program guides or summaries of broadcast audio-visual content Archive: generate descriptions of audiovisual content (or elements) Adaptation: filter and transform multimedia streams in low bit-rate environments (e.g., mobile users)
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MPEG-7 Specific Tasks

Music/audio: play a few notes and return music with similar music/audio Images/graphics: draw a sketch and return images with similar graphics Movement: describe movements and return video clips with the specified temporal and spatial relations Scenario: describe actions and return scenarios where similar actions take place
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MPEG-7 Elements
1. Descriptors (D) : define syntax and semantics of features of audio-visual content
Application independent Low level: shape, motion, color, camera motion, harmonicity, timbre for audio ... Semantic level: events, concepts ...

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MPEG-7 Elements (cont.d)

2. Description Schemes (DS): specify the structure and semantics of the relationships among the constituent Ds or DSs e.g.,
Video DS specify syntax and semantics for segment decomposition, attributes, their relationships DS related to creation, production, and access of content (e.g., property rights, parental rating, etc.)

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MPEG-7 Elements (cont.d)

3. Description Definition Language (DDL): allows flexible definition of Ds and DSs based on XML schema
Ds and DSs are application independent DLLs to define specialized tools

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MPEG-7 Descriptions
MPEG-7 allows descriptions at different levels of abstractions
low level features extracted automatically semantic features with human interaction or textual annotation

MPEG-7 does not specify how features are extracted or used (e.g., filtering, retrieval)
their representation must conform to the MPEG-7 standard
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MPEG-7 Parts
Systems: specifies functionality at system level
Preparation of descriptions for efficient transport and storage synchronization of content and descriptors development of decoders

Description Definition Language (DDL): language for specifying new Ds and DSs
extension of XML schema
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MPEG-7 Visual
Specifies a set of standardized visual Ds and DSs
Color descriptors: color space, quantization Texture descriptors: homogeneous texture, texture browsing, edge histogram ... Shape descriptors: for regions or contours Motion descriptors: camera motion, trajectories, motion activity ... Face recognition
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MPEG-7 Audio
Specifies standardized audio descriptors and descriptor schemes for pure music, pure speech, sound effects, soundtracks
silence descriptor spoken content descriptors sound effects descriptors melody contour descriptors
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Multimedia Description Schemes

Specify a framework that allows generic description of all kinds of multimedia data

basic elements: data types, structures, Ds content management: content from several viewpoints (creation, usage etc.) organization of content by collections, classification navigation and access user interaction
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Multimedia Description Schemes

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MPEG-7 Reference Software

Reference implementation of the relevant parts of the MPEG-7 standard
The focus is on creating bit-streams of descriptors and description schemes (DDL parser, DDL validation, multimedia description schemes) Some software for extracting descriptors is also included (visual, audio descriptors)

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